Patients in hospitals and nursing homes and bedridden persons in homes, are usually not able to bathe themselves, particularly without assistance. Many patients have physical disabilities which prevent them from getting out of a bed and into a bath tub without assistance from a care provider. While wiping a patient with a damp or steamed towel may be employed in lieu of a bath, a bath in a tub is preferred in order to remove filth, particularly body waste. It is desirable, however, to move a bedridden patient as little as possible for a bath because pain is often incurred by a patient during movement. It is also desirable that care providers not be required to lift a patient from a bed to a tub. Labor laws and regulations increasingly restrict employed nurses, nurses aids and the like from lifting patients so as to prevent back and muscle injuries.
A bed for a bedridden patient, such as a patient in a hospital, nursing home, or home normally has a bed frame and mattress thereon which may be moved up and down. A power unit, such as an electric motor in cooperation with pulleys and cables raises and lowers the bed frame and patient. The motive power of the bed itself has not been used in the past for lifting or raising a bath tub, which is positioned alongside the bed.
Heretofore, bath tubs have been especially designed for patients in hospitals and nursing homes, or bedridden persons in homes. However, most of such prior tubs have required substantial movement of a patient in order for such patient to move from the bed into and out of the tubs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,629 dated Jun. 17, 1980 discloses tub equipment for bedridden patients where a patient is required to stand to enter the end of the tub. After a bath, a patient must stand again to return to bed. A patient is not moved sidewise, but instead, is moved into and out of a tub from its end. Movements of a patient to a standing position increase the possibility of a patient slipping or falling when getting into a tub and when exiting a tub. Such movements may require substantial lifting efforts on the part of a care provider.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,136 dated Oct. 8, 1991, shows a bed having an integral bath tub slidably mounted from the bed. A vertically movable mat is provided for lowering a patient into a bath tub positioned below the bed and for raising such patient from the bath tub. The '136 tub does not overlap a bed and does not move vertically with a bed. A mat on which a patient is supported is moved by mechanical power means between tub and bed. A mechanism of the '136 patent for moving a patient between bed and bath tub is relatively complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,748 dated Oct. 20, 1970 shows one embodiment in which a bath tub is adapted to have one side extend beneath a supporting member of an adjacent carriage. The tub is tilted by power means on the tub structure and is not supported or tilted by the carriage. A stretcher is provided on the carriage for the transfer of a patient between the carriage and tub. There is no disclosure of a tub overlapping a bed with a portion of the tub supported on the bed. Further, there is no suggestion of any means to permit manual sliding of a patient in a prostrate position over a bridge between a bath tub and an adjacent patient support surface so as to obviate the requirement for lifting such a patient.